Driver (software)

{{Short description|Programming interface}} {{About|non hardware software drivers|hardware device drivers|Device driver}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}} A '''driver''' in software provides a programming interface to control and manage specific lower-level interfaces that are often linked to a specific type of hardware, or other low-level service. In the case of hardware, the specific subclass of drivers controlling physical or virtual hardware devices are known as device drivers.<ref name="MSaboutDrivers">{{cite web|title=What is a Driver?|access-date=5 May 2025 |date=27 September 2024|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/gettingstarted/what-is-a-driver-|website=Microsoft}}</ref>

==Example== A client library for connecting to a database is often known as a driver, for example, the MySQL native driver for PHP.<ref name="PHPnativeMYSQL">{{cite web|title=MySQL native driver for PHP - mysqlnd|url=https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/php-mysqlnd/|access-date=2 September 2018|website=MySQL}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Computing terminology Category:Application programming interfaces Category:Computer libraries